Women’s History Month: Mother Theodore and steamboats

As Mother Theodore Guerin and her sister-companions traveled down the Ohio River in a steamboat, they saw another America — a more rural area. While they saw much beauty on the river, they also saw the dangers of steam. Mother Theodore writes:

“We passed the skeletons of several steamboats, foundered, burned, wrecked. The sight seemed to make no impression on the Americans. They are so accustomed to such accidents that the papers scarcely mention them. It is surprising that a single boat escapes when the river is low, for when a boat is grounded, so much steam is put on to release it that the danger is great.”

To learn more about Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, click here.